There is opponents to the Confederate Flag and the house could vote on it as early as next tuesday. State senator, paul thurman, the son of segregationist strom thurman. Im glad to be on this side of history on race and bigotry from the state house, but let it not satisfy us to stop there. We must take down the Confederate Flag and we must take it down now, but if we stop there, we have cheated ourselves out of an opportunity to start a different conversation about healing in our state. As momentum against the flag spreads, the nations biggest flag maker, valley forge, now says it will stop producing the confederate battle flag. Political leaders in three of the nine states featuring the flag on license plates are taking steps to remove it. And a list of retailers stopping sales of Confederate Flag merchandise is also growing. And this just in within the last hour. Alabama has just removed its Confederate Flag from the state capital grounds. It comes after an order from governor robert bentley. Nbcs Charles Hadlock joins me now from outside the state house in columbia. There are a lot of developments with the flag but i want to start with the remembrance that will happen there and many people that will file in line to pay their respects to state senator pinckney. Thats right, tamron the flag is still flying bovr theabove the memorial. Reverend pinckney will come behind me where it will lie in state until 5 00 local time. Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to the reverend who was shot and killed a week ago tonight at his church in charleston. He got the calling to become a minister at the age of 13. He became a pastor at age 18. He was 41 years old. Relatives and friends say he was not a rich man, but he was rich in spirit and in kindness. People really loved him here and they are going to miss him a lot, tamron. His colleagues have mentioned, charles, spoke of his opposition of the Confederate Flag that is still there. It was noted that governor nikki haley, while speaking strongly that she wants it removed, she is essentially helpless in removing it today as his body will be in that very building. Yeah it was a legislative order that put it here after it was flying on top of the state capital for many years back in the 60s. They had a compromise to move it to a smaller pole here next to the confederate memorial. But now people want it removed from the state grounds entirely both the state house and senate have agreed to debate that issue in the coming weeks. But right now they want to pay their respects to their fallen colleague. And the only according to the South Carolina law that you were referencing, the only time that flag can be removed would be to replace it due to wear and that is not something the governor apparently is willing to do on this day, as we understand it. That was the rumor, that perhaps there was a chance they would take down the flag for, quote, unquote, maintenance today, but so far we have cameras trained on it. It hasnt moved a bit. Charles, thank you. Joining me now is jodi armor, law professor of negro racism. Good to have you. Good to be here tamron. For many people this flag is something they think of in Popular Culture. For example, we just got word in vulture is reporting that Warner Brothers has decided it will no longer produce the stars and bars that were seen on their iconic show the dukes of hazard that aired between 1979 and 1985. Myself, like many other people around my age, watched that show. Very popular family show and it was part of what made the general lee, and even this flag almost caricatures and not represent what we really should in many ways acknowledge that flag represents for america. Yeah how did we get there, tamron, is the question . You start out with a battle flag thats part of a kind of revolution against the union, against the stars and stripes in support of slavery and maintaining the south autonomy and suddenly you have it appearing on popular shows as a positive symbol. That evolved over time. It was originally just used for confederate veterans kinds of ceremonies and to commemorate fallen confederate soldiers and then in the 40s, the segregationist party in the south adopted the battle flag of general lee for the Northern Virginia army this flag and then it was put into canton the georgia flag in 1956 because brown versus board of education was decided in 54 saying immigration, so it was arguably saying were going to be defiant in the face of these demands for immigration, so how do you get to that in association with segregation and slavery . That is an incredible journey. I think part of it had to do with the fact the state started putting it in their flag frankly. Its amazing how the dukes of hazard neutralized the Confederate Flag. It came to represent not just the rebel, but also the good ole boy, the southerners who represent cracker barrels dining establishment. We have a list from usa today of the Confederate Flag used in Popular Culture. Lynnrd Lynyrd Skynyrd never shied away from it kid rock tom petty, et cetera, never shied away from it. Here i was a kid in the 60s in texas watching the dukes of hazard rooting for general lee and the two with the Confederate Flag with a childs mind all while still learning in school and some great schools, i might add, what the civil war means for my people. Its amazing how Popular Culture can dilute our minds. Popular culture, and it was led by states like georgia and mississippi and South Carolina adopting the battle flag as part of the state flag. After its part once the government starts standing behind a particular symbol and saying its okay with us Popular Culture can follow that lead and say, hey, this is a state symbol. You know we bond around this symbol in a lot of states. And so thats why that texas decision is so important. It said that the state of texas did not have to issue specialty license plates with the battle flag on it. Because thats government speech, not private speech. That was a very important way to take the legitimacy out of this symbolic expression of the battle flag. And think about that you cannot make this timing up that decision regarding those license plates, the tragic slaughter of innocent africanamericans at around the same time mind you, of this discussion with the flag and the license plates in texas. But i do want to play an interview my colleague ron allen did with a man who lives in columbia and he has a barn full of Confederate Flags, and this is his perspective on the discussion of where this flag should exist in our culture. Its a war memorial to honor 25,000 men, a quarter of the men in South Carolina died to protect this state. So many people in this state and this country see slavery, they see racism, they see the klan on that flag. They stole it. They dishonored that flag. That flag never had anything to do with slavery. You have people like jeff mccain there who are asking when does this end. There are a dozen counties a few press points out, who have figures like robert e. Lee, confederate leader davis who has already asked for the statue of davis to be removed from the rotunda there. General nathan bedford, early founder of the ku klux klan his bus is in the tennessee capitol, though the government there has not endorsed i should point out the government has endorsed its removal as of tuesday. So you have people wondering, then, this is actually a statue thats on private property that Rachel Maddow was talking about yesterday. Thats a whole other issue because its private property. Nevertheless, the bus, the street names as well folks ask, where does it end. It may have to end. For one thing, we want to take all symbols of the confederacy out of government speech so flags on state grounds or issuing license plates or trademarks, you know the redskins name for example, with the washington football team. Thats a government trademark. So there may be some issues about government speech versus private speech there as well. So first you start getting out of government speech and then you start asking the question which flag is more important, the American Flag or the battle flag . The battle flag stands for one definition of us. The American Flag stands for more inclusive definition of us and its a battle of flags in a way. We have dueling flags, and we have to make a decision which of those flags were going to stand under and find solidarity in. Thank you very much. This is all moving very quickly, and were seeing from movie studios to local governments taking action to your point of which flag do they want to stand behind. Thank you for your time there. Developing in the next hour, president obama is expected to announce a major shift in u. S. Policy concerning americans captured by terrorists. Most notably, the president is expected to announce that families will no longer face the threat of criminal prosecution if they try to pay ransom. The president is scheduled to speak at 12 20 eastern time after meeting with the families of americans held hostage. The shift comes largely in response to criticism from those hostages family members, among them the families of james foley held by isis and killed last august and Kayla Mueller also held by isis and killed earlier this year. Any parents out there would understand that you would want anything and everything done to bring your child home. And we tried, and we asked, but they put policy in front of american citizens lives. If they werent going to rescue them they couldnt get them home what do you do leave your kid in a jail to get beaten . No way. Well today the white house will also announce its creating what it calls a hostage recovery fusion cell that will be based on the the fbi. It will include a coordinator to work directly with the families to keep them better informed. Now, some republicans are criticizing the policy change. House Committee ChairmanBob Goodlatte said good luck. It does more harm than good. And Duncan Hunter says pathetic response to a serious problem. Other countries allow families to pay ransom. Some countries, even do that. This is a very delicate balance here because you hear the sound from those family members, and they can only wonder if this change had been made prior to losing their loved one if they would have worked and there is no guarantee it would have. There is no guarantee it would have but we do have some insight, because in so many of these cases they were european hostages that were in some cases in the same cell as the american ones. In the case of some of the European Countries who do pay ransom or allow families to pay ransom the vast majority got out alive. The only other country that has the same policy always the United States is the united kingdom, and they have had as much success in removing their captors as the u. S. Which is to say not very well. This only empowers isis and the next terror group that pops up years from now to believe, if i get an american i get what i want. There is no doubt about it that kidnapping and hostage taking is a very lucrative business for terrorist organizations. That is a fact. The numbers back it up by 160 million on how much isis has made on the kidnapping of foreigners. But you saw from these parents perspective, they will do what they can to bring home their loved ones. But this new change in policy has a lot of questions to be answered for, and some parents have put out statements, like the wasserman family and they said they would have preferred to see this fusion. Explain that. The families were complaining they werent getting the communication they needed from areas of government. The fbi, obviously with the kidnapping of any american citizen is involved in these kinds of cases. They wanted to have a single point of contact that can become the Clearing House of information coming from the government and back to the government. When the family learns something about their son, if theyre communicated to through an intermediary or Something Like that, they can relay it back to the government. It seemed there was miskmublgz miscommunication on various levels and that was the main point. The question then becomes, is this the right place to have it . Was it at an fbi level or should it be at a higher level. Its going to be time sensitive to see how this was tested. Hopefully were not in another situation where another american is not kidnapped, but it will be the test of time i think. Thank you for those details and well follow the president s remarks later today. Happening now in a boston courtroom. Victims of the Boston Marathon and their families are giving emotional impact statements in the formal sentencing hearing for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Patricia campbell mother of crystal campbell killed in the bombing, said the jury did the right thing in sentencing him to death. And father of the youngest victim martin said dzhokhar showed destruction, hate and death and that he deserved a lifetime to think about what hes done. Meanwhile, outside the courthouse more than a dozen antideath sentence protesters have gathered to show their opinion for the sentencing. Is there any indication from his attorneys that tsarnaev will speak today . Hey there, tamron no. They have not given any indication whether hes going to speak. Just sort of based on his body language so far this morning where hes occasionally glancing at some of the victims as they make their remarks, it doesnt seem likely hes going to speak. A lot of legal analysts who are handling this case says he doesnt have much to gain from speaking here especially since there are automatic appeals that will last years and years and years. You mentioned bill richard. He lost his son, eightyearold Martin Richard in the bombing. He reiterated his familys position that the jury should have sentenced him to life in prison so dzhokhar could have a lifetime to think about what hes done here. Its not just the physical pain a lot of emotional scars, too. There was a gentleman named michael chase who spoke to dzhokhar. He was standing right behind the Richards Family when that bomb went off, and he instinct actively went to pick up martins sister who lost her leg in that blast and left martin to fend for himself. He said thats been a very difficult thing in their marriage. Theyre working through it but its a very painful thing he carries around every day. One of the other victims who got up was a transit officer with the mtba vick donahue, and he said he was seconds away from leaving behind a sixmoldnthold, but he said he survived and one of the most painful things in that recovery was watching the funeral of the one that was ambushed that led to that shootout. But he said the United States welcomed his family here and to turn on us he should be treated as such. Tamron . Coming up the autopsy report on the death of freddie gray is leaked. If t finds he died from a high energy injury. What the state police and the Attorneys Office are saying today. Also developing now, frances president is said to call president obama today about new revelations that the nsa may have eaves dropped on three french president s including president on. Were live at the white house. Donald trump surges to second. You can find the t at news nation twitter, and you can find me on instagram and facebook under my name. Well be right back. S. And ones you never thought youd make. We help connect where you are. To places you never thought youd go. This, is why we travel. And why we continue to create new technology to connect you to the people and places that matter. Turn around every now and then i get a little bit hungry and theres nothing good around turn around, barry i finally found the right snack [ female announcer ] fiber one. Here is a simple math problem. Two trains leave st. Louis for albuquerque at the same time. Same cargo, same size, same power. Which one arrives first . Hint its not the one on the left. The speedy guy on the right is part of an intelligent system that creates the optimal trip profile for all trains on the line. And the one on the left . Uh, looks like itll be counting cows for awhile. So maybe the same things arent quite the same. Ge software. Get connected. Get insights. Get optimized. Heart healths important. So you may. Take an omega3 supplement. But its the ingredients inside that really matter for heart health. New bayer pro ultra omega3 has two times the concentration of epa and dha as the leading omega3 supplement. New bayer pro ultra omega3. Developing now, new details are emerging in the investigation surrounding the death of freddie gray. The Baltimore Sun is reporting marylands medical Examiners Office concluded grays death couldnt be ruled an accident and was instead a homicide. The report is based on a leaked autopsy report obtained by the sun that was completed on april 30th and has not been made public and has not been seen by nbc news. This leaked information comes two days after the six officers charged in grays death pleaded not guilty. Nbcs craig melvin has more on the report. Reporter according to the autopsy report reviewed by the Baltimore Sun but not independently verified by nbc news the state medical Examiners Office declared freddie grays death a homicide because officers failed to follow safety procedures through acts of omission. The Baltimore Sun obtained the autopsy report for freddie gray. They say his death met the Legal Definition of an acci